Poor fuel management brings down airplane

What reportedly happened: The airplane had two fuel tanks, each capable of holding 33.5 gallons of fuel. Before departing on the last leg of a long cross-country flight, the pilot put 46.1 gallons fuel into the aircraft.

The airplane had been flying for three hours and 39 minutes when the pilot declared an emergency due to low fuel pressure. The controller vectored the flight to the nearest airport. The Lancair crashed in a field three miles from the runway.

Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions.

The fuel selector valve was found positioned to the left main fuel tank, which was empty. The right tank contained approximately 20 gallons of fuel. The investigation could not determine why the pilot did not position the fuel selector handle to the right main fuel tank.

Probable cause: The pilot’s improper in-flight fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power.

Of course before you reach for the boost pump switch you’ve already pitched for best glide and turned toward the nearest airport or suitable forced landing site because you already know where it is and you never quit flying the airplane, RIGHT!

As others here have pointed out there really aren’t many valid excuses for running out of fuel. If so you started doing something dumb long before the engine quit.

You don’t need a checklist to keep from running out of fuel. It’s BASIC. Put fuel in. Don’t fly longer than fuel on board. Real simple. Required no checklist. If you need a checklist to keep from running out of fuel, you should consider taking up something else besides flying.

Tell that to the piolt who ran out of fuel and killed himself ….A check list is an important part of flying , any tool a pilot uses hopefully can aid in flight saftey, seems you don’t need one, hopefully, we don’t read about you, and what you consider, flying by the wire tatics…… BASIC, checklists are basic………..seems you just read part of my comment, I don’t agree with you or your thought process concerning safety in the cockpit. hopefully others will agree with me.

This accident is just plain stupid, yes stupid. We all are tought as pilots to ues CHECK LISTS, before we start the engine, while we run up the engine prior to takeoff, and MOST import in flight. We all know and have experienced how great we felt when we were handed our flying ticket, we were the best of the best we knew it, all about flying….I have in my flight bag, a check list for every type of plane I fly as I rent aircraft, I love flying as many of us do, lets pass the word, Fly as though you were doing your first check ride.